It's the Feast of the Epiphany and the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles, represented by the three Kings or Magi, Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar. As everyone knows, they offer the infant Messiah three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold for kingship, incense for divinity and myrrh for death, and there we have it, an epiphany. Jesus is the God King who will die for our sins upon the throne of the cross. So much is clear, but consider the gospel (Matt 2:1-12) and another figure emerges, Herod.
He, like Christ, is a king. As he stood at the end of his life, clothed in a robe of spun silver, he was hailed as a god and death followed in the wings. An agonizing and revolting death, the culmination of a murderous reign which saw the massacre of the Innocents, three of his sons and one of his many wives.
Now, stand back and reflect on Mathew's account. We see three sets of kings, Christ, Herod and the Magi, and three gifts; these describe Christ and Herod. Both are kings, are seen as gods and death, like a shadow, accompanies each. So much for similarity.
Christ's kingship is heavenly, he exercises his power in love; perfect, sacrificial love that will lead him to the Cross. He dies that we might live.
Herod's kingship is earthly; he commands armies and reigns with magnificence and immense wealth. His rule is characterized by murderous pride and ambition, he kills that he might live.
So we see an epiphany within an epiphany, two models of kingship, one earthly the other divine. Herod and Christ.
The question is, which path do you choose?
Your old buddy,
LSP
